BENGALURU: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said that the Lingayat voters in Karnataka have always taken the right decision and people have not forgotten the Congress’ attempts to divide Lingayats and Veerashaivas.
Speaking to reporters in Mudhol in Bagalkot district, Bommai said that the Congress had opposed the reservation for Lingayats, and it had opposed its inclusion in the 2A category in 2009 and rejected it in 2016. The BJP government created a separate category, 2D, and increased the quota for Lingayats, Bommai said and added that the Congress leaders instigated somebody to file a case in the Supreme Court questioning the reservation.
Accusing the Congress of opposing every development of Lingayats, the CM said no one has forgotten the ‘Jalebi’ file clearance that prevailed in the Siddaramaiah government. “Jalebi files referred to Gowdas, Lingayats, and Brahmins and non-Jalebi files referred to others,” he said.
The BJP accused the Congress government of clearing non-Jalebi files. The BJP leader said that after 1967, except for Veerendra Patil, no Lingayat from the Congress had become the CM, and even Patil was treated badly by the Congress. “People know what happened to Lingayat leaders.
The leaders who joined Congress will not make any impact on the BJP’s prospects and BJP will win more seats than in the 2018 Assembly polls,” he said.
Responding to former CM Jagadish Shettar’s allegations that the BJP state unit is in the clutches of a few leaders, the CM said that it is not in the clutches of anyone and as a national party it has its systems.
Bommai termed Congress a sinking ship and said the guarantee cards given by it has no value.